JOIN THE FAST FOR DARFURIS' FREEDOM TO GO HOME. RAFA NADAL PLAYS ANDREAS SEPPI IN ROME'S RD 2

JOIN IN THE FAST FOR DARFURIS FREEDOM TO LIVE

There will be 2 fasting options: water only, and refugee rations that mirrors the rations people get in the refugee camps that we have observed.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Water only fast

In this fast only water is consumed.

Refugee rations fast

Cracked Wheat - Daily, 7 oz. (weight not volume) (686 Calories)
Farina Wheat Cereal - Daily - 1.17 oz (weight not volume) (123 Calories)
Yellow Split Peas - Daily 1/6 Cup (82 Calories)
Oil - Daily 2.4 TSPNs (96 Calories)
Sugar - Daily 2 TSPNs (30 Calories)
Salt - Daily 1/10 Teaspoon per day.

Total of 1,017 Calories

People Fasting in Solidarity are listed at
fastdarfur.org

Darfur Fast for Life

Activist-actress Mia Farrow will began an extended hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Darfur on April 27, 2009. She intends to continue this water-only fast for 21 days. Darfur Fast for Life was created so that you and many more around the world can participate in saying no to the status quo on Darfur. Mia will be blogging here and at MiaFarrow.org. Others will join by participating in water-only and/or “refugee rations” fasts to bring attention to the immediate humanitarian crisis in Darfur created by the expulsion of aid organizations by the government of Sudan. Darfur Fast for Life demands from our leaders around the world to be ambitious and work on creating lasting peace in Sudan and guaranteeing the respect for the human rights of all.

Darfur Fast for Life
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We fast in solidarity with the people of Darfur because they do not have a choice. We fast as a personal expression of outrage at a world that has allowed the suffering of millions of innocent people. We fast because as we simply watched, Darfur’s defenseless people were forced into wretched camps where today they are facing starvation and disease. We fast because those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.

We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.

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Adef’s food rations

Our Act Now for Darfur event in Rhode Island - April 18, 2009 ....
Quiet Riot for Darfuri Families
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Genocide in Darfur - Silence and Indifference...Are Necessary for Genocide to Happen
Uploaded by ilovemylifesblog
Posted April 22, 2009

Text from the Youtube from Quiet Riot for Darfuri Families:

Music Selections:
"Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" ~ sung by Kathleen Emery
"This Little Light of Mine" ~ sung by Odetta

Genocide has never happened when there is space on our "To Do" list making it more probable for us to add Prevention or Stopping Genocide to our list. The holocaust went on for 12 years. Many claimed they didn't know. We know this time. Sudanese President Bashir says that he will protect the people that he is murdering.

The refugees in Sudan have been cut off from potable water, food and medical attention since March 4, 2009. Meningitis, cholera and diarrhea are spreading in the camps inside the Sudanese borders.

President Obama repeatedly said during his campaign "This is a defining moment". This story is a defining issue because of what we choose to do or not do. If effect, we have spoken with our failing. In place of choosing political will, our leaders have chosen indifference. HUMANITY BEFORE POLITICS is on the t-shirts of StopGenocideNow.org -unless, our message is clear to our leaders it will be politics before humanity.

MALNUTRITION
When food is not readily available, the body is thrown off balance, which results in weight loss from the digestion of body fat first, then muscle, then vital organs to keep the body alive.

With extreme malnutrition comes starvation. The skin hangs on the body, the facial contours change with temple wasting as a giveaway sign. Hair begins to lose pigment, thin, and then fall out. The person becomes so weak that appetite is radically diminished: the effort to eat and the energy needed to digest exceed bodily strength. Lethargy, apathy and onset of opportunistic diseases (bacterial, parasitic) besiege the helpless system.

In open circumstances, such as starving populations, disease usually kills first.

Kwashiorkor is a disease of children caused by protein deficiency in malnutrition. Signs of this are orange hair, swollen bellies from liver disease, vomiting, diarrhea (which contains undigested food), ulcerated peeling skin and sloughing of tissue/development of ulcers throughout the digestive tract. Extreme pain is present. The ulcers are entry points for bacteria and death usually occurs from overwhelming infection.

THIRST AND DEHYDRATION
Thirst drives a person to consume fluids of all types and juicy foods to make up the deficit.Unless fluid intake is successful, signs of dehydration occur, the most obvious of which is tenting. Gently pinching up a bit of flesh on the back of the hand creates a small tent which should fill and sink back if all is well. If there is dehydration, the tent stays up.

Sudden life-threatening dehydration brings on cholera. A healthy adult can die from cholera in 2-6 hours because of the acute and massive diarrhea it causes. There is no effective vaccine and antibiotics do not act quickly enough.

We honored three familes at
QUIET RIOT FOR DARFURI FAMILIES

Raouda (12 years old) and Hassanya, her grandmother

Adef and Achta and their 4 children
A family that the SGN team had made friends on their trip June 15, 2008 and again this trip in March 2009:
Guisma, daughter
Bashar and Bashir, twins sons
Abdelmouni, son

Dajhima - Mother
Khadija Daughter
Ibrahim Son

As bad as it is for these families, it is much better than for those Darfuris inside the Sudanese borders.

Elie Wiesel says "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all...

The collective indifference to this human disaster is numbing and stunning.

While in Chad...
www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact5/day 6 - June 15, 2008

www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day5 - March 28, 2009

www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day7 - March 30, 2009


SGN visited a school in camp Djabal where the students share songs from their homeland in March of 2009.

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Write to President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

President Obama can be called:
202-456-1111
or
1-800-GENOCIDE

Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link:
www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

JOIN OTHERS TO PUT AN END TO GENOCIDE
www.enoughproject.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.standnow.org

Pictures in ilovemylifesblog's video are from camp Djabal, a Darfuri refugee camp visited March 23 - April 1, 2009 by the Stop Genocide Now iAct team. I have obtained permission from Gabriel Stauring, the founder of Stop Genocide Now, for use of the pictures. The other pictures are mine and of Newport (also known as Eastons) Beach, Newport, Rhode Island on the Atlantic Ocean on April 18, 2009 at our event.

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March 4, 2009, the Sudanese government decided to expel 13 international humanitarian aid groups from working in and around Darfur.

These are the consequences...

According to a joint UN-Sudanese humanitarian assessment team, around May 1^st we will see a sharp drop in the health and well-being of people living throughout the Darfur crisis region. Emergency food rations will run out. Clean water, an already rare commodity, will become even scarcer. And to top it off, a "rainy season" will render on-the-ground movement extremely difficult, escalating the risk of disease and danger to children and the elderly.

If Sudan's leaders won't step in to steer their country away from inevitable doom, then they will bear the blame for this new phase to the crisis in Darfur.

Urge UN and Sudanese Ambassadors to use their influence to press the government of Sudan to fully restore humanitarian aid in and around Darfur.

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Rome Tennis Tournament
April 29, 2009

Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome
Rafa Nadal vs Andreas Seppi in Round 2- Wednesday April 29th.

The match is scheduled third on Stadio Pietrangeli.
The first match beginsPlay starts at 7:00 AM USA EDT.

Link to find live streaming at vamosbrigade.com
Pay to watch live streaming ~ www.tennistv.com

Official Site for Rome
Singles Draw

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates match point and 6-2,7-6 victory against Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semi final match during day 6 of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco.
Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal (l) of Spain holds the winners trophy alongside Prince Albert II of Monaco (r) after his 6-3,2-6,6-1 victory in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates a point on his way to a 6-2,7-6 victory against Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semi final match during day 6 of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images


Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Monte Carlo
Rd 2 Rafa d Juan Ignacio Chela ~ April 15 ~ 6-2, 6-3
Rd 3 Rafa d Nicloas Lapentti ~ April 17 ~ 6-3, 6-0
QF Rafa d Ivan Ljubicic ~ April 17 ~ 6-3, 6-3
SF Rafa d Andy Murray ~ April 18 ~ 6-2, 7-6(4)
Final Rafa d Novak Djokovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Fifth straight year Rafa won Singles at Monte Carlo
Last year he also won the doubles

Rafael Nadal (l) of Spain poses with the winners trophy after his 6-3,2-6,6-1 victory in the final match against Novak Djokovic (r) of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

Pictures of Monte Carlo

Picture from Barcelona Tournament

Rafael Nadal of Spain on his way back to the players lounge after attending a press conference on day 1 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 20, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.

Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe

Barcelona ~ Rafa did it again Rd 2 Rafa d Frederico Gil ~ 6-2, 6-2 Rd 3 Rafa d Christophe Rochus ~ 6-2, 6-0 QF Nalbandian withdrew SF Rafa d Nikolay Davydenko ~ 6-3, 6-2 Final Rafa d David Ferrer ~ 6-2, 7-5

Link to pictures of Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009

Former tennis great Manolo Santana (L) holds a racket used by him in the year he won the Wimbledon Championships flanked by Rafael Nadal during a promotional event for Nadal's foundation on day 2 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 21, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.
Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Link to pictures ~ Day 2


Rafael Nadal of Spain heads the ball during a training session on day 2 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 21, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Link to pictures - Day 3 ~ Rafael Nadal vs. Frederico Gil of Portugal at the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 22, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Nadal won the match in two sets, 6-2 and 6-2.

Link to pictures ~ Day 4


Link to pictures of Rafael Nadal vs. Nikolay Davydenko of Russia during his semi-final match on day 6 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 25, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Nadal won the match in two sets, 6-3 and 6-2.


Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia during day 6 of the Sony Ericsson Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 28, 2009 in Key Biscayne, Florida ~ Miami. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Link to more pictures in Miami.